Why Preventive Maintenance Doesn’t Always Stop Equipment Failures (And How to Fix It)

Even the best preventive maintenance (PM) programs can leave you with unexpected equipment failures. The key to reliability is asking the right questions and ensuring PM tasks truly align with equipment needs.

Like a family preparing for a hospital trip, every component—operations, maintenance, and the equipment itself—must be ready. If the vehicle refuses to start, the whole plan falls apart. The same principle applies to industrial equipment.

Key Questions to Assess Your PM Program

• Is the PM procedure appropriate for the specific equipment?
• Do the PM tasks match the current operating parameters? (Have production rates changed from the original design?)
• Are standard work instructions in place?
• Is adherence to these instructions enforced for both operators and maintenance staff, and is it routinely audited?
• Are PM intervals long enough to prevent failure, yet short enough to avoid unnecessary downtime? Does the team actively refine these intervals based on real‑world data?
• Are reliability engineers actively reviewing and improving sub‑optimal PMs?
• Are PM work orders accurately captured and coded so that engineers can perform forensic analysis?
• Do planners coordinate with operations and maintenance to schedule PMs on time and maintain compliance?

Preventive maintenance is a shared responsibility. It requires clear communication, coordination, and a culture that values continuous improvement—much like ensuring a family car is ready before a midnight hospital trip.

This article first appeared in the Life Cycle Engineering newsletter RxToday.

About the author:
Al Emeneker is a subject‑matter expert at Life Cycle Engineering with over 30 years of experience in maintenance, repair, and reliability for organizations such as Union Camp Paper Company, Fluor, the U.S. Air Force, and South Carolina Electric & Gas. Contact Al at aemeneker@LCE.com. For more information, visit www.LCE.com.